Yellowstone Through the Ages 9780231899949

Table of contents :
FOREWORD
I. TODAY
II. BIRTH OF YELLOWSTONE
III. YOUTH OF YELLOWSTONE
IV. AGE OF VOLCANISM
V. THE GREAT ICE AGE
VI. FUTURE OF YELLOWSTONE

Citation preview

YELLOWSTONE THROUGH THE AGES

by ARTHUR D. HOWARD, Ph.D.

COLUMBIA U N I V E R S I T Y NEW YORK : 1 9 3 8

PRESS

COPYRIGHT COLUMBIA

UNIVERSITY

1938 PRESS,

FIRST PRINTING, J U N E

NEW

YORK

1938

SECOND PRINTING, AUGUST

1938

Foreign agents: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, Humphrey Milford, Amen House, London, E.C. 4, England, AND B. I. Building, Nicol Road, Bombay, India;

KWANG HSUEH PUBLISHING HOUSE, 140

China;

Peking

MARUZEN COMPANY, LTD., 6 Nihonbashi,

Tokyo,

Road,

Shanghai,

Tori-Nichome,

Japan

M A N U F A C T U R E D IN T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S O F A M E R I C A

To D R . Chief Naturalist

C. M A X of Yellowstone

BAUER National

Park

The author is indebted to the following reproduce the photographs:

BEARTOOTH MOUNTAINS, MONTANA;

Johnson

of Columbia

to

U.

the

S.

University

Geological

A B S A R O K A R A N G E ; and S E R , for

MORNING

to

GLORY

Hodnett

to Professor

Douglas

for YELLOWSTONE PLATEAU ;

Survey

for

Haynes, POOL,

of Columbia

TABLE

Inc.,

for

MOUNTAIN,

RIVERSIDE

GEY-

for

MAMMOTH

HOT

is made

as well

and

SPRINGS TERRACE. Acknowledgment

Edward

for permission to

to the U. S. Army Air Corps for

University

Press

to Dr.

for

the

pen-and-ink drawings. The author desires also to acknowledge his debt to Professor Richard University

and to Professor

M. Field of

Douglas Johnson

Princeton for

and encouraging him in his researches in the Yellowstone

region.

aiding

FOREWORD By C. MAX B A U E R , Ph.D., Park Naturalist

OUR national parks are not only scenic wonderlands, but many of them contain unique examples of the work of nature and are therefore of great interest to the student and to the scientist. For this reason, the National Park Service encourages competent investigators to study the natural features in our national parks and through their research work to contribute to the knowledge of the origin and history of these interesting phenomena. It is the function of the Naturalist Division of the National Park Service to coordinate and correlate the scientific material and facts gathered by the many scientific workers and to make the knowledge available and understandable to the public. For the past several years, many investigators have been interested in Yellowstone National Park in order to obtain a better understanding of the events of its past history which have brought about its beautiful canyons, waterfalls, lakes, hot springs, geysers, and accumulations of volcanic materials. Dr. Arthur D. Howard has spent five seasons studying the geology of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. In the following pages he has told in popular language the story of Yellowstone through the ages, and I am sure that the reader will find it fascinating, enjoyable, and profitable.

By courtesy of the U.